


The Home Front

by ThatDamnKennedyKid



Series: Two Jedi Walk Into A Mandalorian [14]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, BAMF Obi-Wan Kenobi, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Female Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mandalorian Culture, Mandalorian Obi-Wan Kenobi, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:13:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24007171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatDamnKennedyKid/pseuds/ThatDamnKennedyKid
Summary: News reaches the GAR that Kamino is the latest target of the Separatists' attacks.But then, the force of a Mandalorian's rage isn't to be discounted.
Relationships: 212th Attack Battalion & 501st Legion, 501st Legion & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Boba Fett & CT-7567 | Rex, Boba Fett & Clone Troopers, Boba Fett & Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi & Clone Troopers, Obi-Wan Kenobi/CT-7567 | Rex
Series: Two Jedi Walk Into A Mandalorian [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1553227
Comments: 27
Kudos: 378





	The Home Front

"With respect, this is the closest thing to a home we have. It's personal to us clones." Rex said, staring down General Jinn. 

"Quite right." The Jedi readily agreed, casting his gaze to the side where Obi-Wan stood, her visor obscuring his read on her face. The malevolence in her aura, however, was clear as day. Boba, next to her, was absolutely simmering in contempt. "We're redirecting to Kamino as we speak to reinforce Tapoca City. Rest assured, the 501st and the 212th will not be absent from the defense of their homeworld."

"Thank you, General." Cody nodded, donning his helmet to get the units rallied. Rex quietly relaxed, not nearly as comfortable around Qui-Gon as he was with Anakin and Ahsoka. 

"No need to thank me. But make sure the men have the surplus of low-grade explosives they'll require instead of the high-density ones Luxor prefers. We want the city intact if we can."

"Absolutely, sir." Cody bowed out, his orders firm in his head. 

Qui-Gon turned his attention to their young Mandalorian. "What are your thoughts, little one?"

"Me?" Boba asked. 

"Indeed. I'm curious what you think."

Boba looked down at the holotable, visibly repressing a snarl at the simulation. "I was born here, and this was where my dad raised me. These men and this city are all that's left of him."

Obi-Wan laid her hand on his shoulder, the glove brushing his exposed neck. 

Boba looked back up again, his mouth firm and eyes aflame. "If they think they'll get anything, I'll make sure they're sorely mistaken."

"So you've decided you're going to fight?"

That fire jumped higher, fuelled on indignation. "I don't need your permission to defend my homeworld!"

Anakin glanced nervously at him, but he just smiled. "No, you don't. But I'm glad you don't require compulsion, either."

That stopped Boba short, eyes narrowed as if looking for a trap hidden in his words, but unable to find one. "I don't."

"Good." He chuckled to himself. "You'll make a fine specimen of a Mandalorian when you're older. I'm sure the armour Obi-Wan will give you will be spectacular."

Boba flushed under the compliment, now in unfamiliar territory. "Thank you?"

He turned his attention to Obi-Wan herself, more serious. "This is going to be ugly. I imagine Ventress will be sent in under the radar of Grievous's frontal assault."

"So do I." Her visor didn't waver. "I plan on coming with the intent to kill."

He hummed. "Capture, if you can, but yes. She won't make it easy."

"A slippery bitch like Ventress? I think not. That's why I'm not looking to save her. I'm looking to stop her." 

"That's your prerogative, I suppose." He shrugged. "If there was anyone I considered capable, it would be you."

"Darth Maul didn't split himself in half, that's for certain." She huffed.

Rex and Ahsoka both perked up, staring at her in open-mouthed astonishment. 

"I thought Skyguy was kidding." Ahsoka breathed. 

Anakin snorted. "Why would I lie about that?"

Rex had no words, and neither did Boba, who glanced up at her like a whole new person. 

"Oh no." Qui-Gon hummed. "Did she not tell you?"

"There was no need." She shrugged. "It made no odds to my success on the battlefield."

Rex swallowed, his voice still strained. "You couldn't have gotten luckier picking a mother."

Boba huffed an incredulous laugh. "Yeah, you're telling me."

"Enough. We've a battle to prepare for." Obi-Wan cut in. "Be ready for deployment in six hours. Jedi included."

"Yes ma'am." Anakin offered a mocking salute, but left to do as he was told, Ahsoka at his heels clearly ready to explode with questions. 

Qui-Gon smirked mischievously at her, then took his leave. 

"Should I ask?" Rex cocked his head. 

"No. Get ready for battle. And _don't_ spread this."

"Understood."

* * *

Kamino was as pristine and white as he remembered it. As it had been when he'd been here with Jango, young and primarily naive. 

She stood at his side, a newcomer to her family's homeworld, glancing around and taking note of ambush positions and attack vantages. The ever-present rain pelted down on her helmet, soaking through her cape even as she shielded him with her own body. 

Inside, he could tell she was frowning at the sterile white walls, all smooth, uninterrupted curve. It provided no tactical advantage the clones could use, and would make barrier construction difficult. 

"Mom?" He asked, tugging on her wrist. 

"How much of Tapoca City do you know?" She asked, kneeling next to him. 

"Almost all of it, save the advanced training rooms. I had free run as long as I had a communicator. Why?"

"The Separatists are attacking the clone manufacture world. They know, even without the battalions here, that it's well defended. So, what, exactly, are they looking to gain attacking here? Not to destroy Kamino, certainly. They won't have the force. If someone were to sneak in, what would they want to either destroy or steal?"

"One of the incubators? One of the fetuses?" He frowned, thinking. "I- I'm not sure what else."

"That, dear heart, is your mission here." She stroked the side of his face. "Figure out whatever the Seps are after here, and either steal it first or direct me to them. I'll be posted with Rex and Cody, so you're on your own for this mission."

He nodded, resolute. "I won't let you down."

"I know. Now go, before they can get here."

He nodded and took off at a sprint, ducking down a narrow corridor immediately to his left, then shimmying into a duct.

"Are you sure such a mission is wise?" Qui-Gon asked. 

"This is his homeworld. He deserves a means of participation in its protection. Besides, I really do think the attack is a rouse." She adjusted the strap of her halo incinerator, slung over her shoulder. "And if anyone will find it and protect it, it's Boba."

Qui-Gon hummed. 

She sighed, brittle and tense. "Just say it, old man."

"I have nothing to say." He wandered off. 

She'd never so seriously considered Force-choking someone over being mildly irritating.

* * *

She hated being right. 

Every instinct she had seemed to be finely tuned specifically for when terrible things were to come, and this campaign was no exception. With the aquadroids on the move through Tapoca City and the training grounds, the submersible ships rising from the oceans - the whole battle was a clusterfuck. And yet, there still were not enough forces to take Kamino, nor enough to dent the Kaminoan operations. They were here looking for something, and she wanted to know what. 

The good thing about droids and oval passageways, however, was that there was nowhere for them to hide, even if they ever did choose to march in something other than a standard 12-deep formation. 

She unslung the halo incinerator from her back, checking that the cartridge was loaded, before spinning the end wide. 

"What's that?" One of the Kaminoan security forces asked, kneeling beside her and offering cover fire. 

"A gift." She replied. Across the hall, Kano barked a rough laugh.

"Show me what she does on a live target." 

"With pleasure." She slid out into the centre of the hallway, taking some pings on the shoulders, trained the shot, let it heat for a couple seconds more than she absolutely needed to, then fired it off. The thick blue-hot ring evicerated all but the last line of droids. 

Kano lobbed a grenade for fun, letting the last stragglers blow up. "I'm glad you brought that."

"So am I." 

The unit took off together, down to reinforce the snipers and command centre.

_"Buir."_

She skid to a stop behind some crates, gesturing for Rex and Cody to go on ahead of her. "Bob'ika."

_"It's the assassin woman, she's here. They came for dad's genome."_

"Did you get it?"

_"I had it. She pulled it from my hands, then Skywalker chased her off. They were running back towards the invasion pods."_

"Good work, Boba. I'll find her. Rex and Cody are in the barracks - join them and I'll come collect you afterward. Stay low, swift and safe."

_"Understood, buir."_

Anxiety and tension were ratcheting up inside her, mixing and coalescing with anger and fear. This was the homeworld of her kin, her clan, her brothers, her lover and her _son_. It was outrageous, an affront that felt much more personal than it should, and she knew it was twisting her emotions and perceptions. But those feelings were beyond her control, and all she had now was the merciless drive to save as many of her clansmen as she could, come hell or high water. 

She caught sight of Ventress' red blades streaking down a hallway and followed the first gut instinct that came to her, dashing after the bald woman as though her sins were nipping at her heels. She felt Anakin behind her, but he made a sharp turn, down another hallway. 

_"Take Ventress for me - I'm going to reinforce the_ _docks."_ He yelled into his comm. 

"On it." She replied, slinging her halo incinerator over her shoulder and pulling the beskade off her back. 

In the broad light of day, the clones were doing well pushing back the droid offensive. Rocket and demo teams were blowing out the insertion probes and destroying them before they could even puncture the city's outer walls. 

"It's the Mando!" She could hear them shout over the comms, deflecting rocket shots away from the platform she was on, hot on Ventress' heels. One of the probes was already coming down, however, a spindly robotic arm nearly taking her prize away from her. 

She could taste the indignation on her tongue, her entire mouth and inside of her lungs coated in fury. She wanted a kill - a real one. Droids, even in a droid army, were nothing more than scrap metal waiting to be made so. But this - this roiling contempt made her crave the visceral, feral joy of bloodshed. In that moment, her entire being was bent on making Ventress pay for every indiscretion and poor choice that led her here. Nothing mattered more than this fight, more than this display of _forceful error correction_. She hadn't even hated Maul this much when she cut him in half, and a sick part of her was excited to see what she would do once she got her hands on Ventress properly. 

She launched herself over the probe's limb, not even aware that she'd propelled herself the same way the Jedi did, bringing her beskade down in a shower of sparks. The little white vial that contained what was left of Jango Fett dangled innocuously from Ventress' belt, and that fury inside her graduated to _rage_.

Ventress must have felt it, the death coming for her, because her eyes widened and her grip wavered for just long enough for her to press her advantage. 

One, two, three, _four_ slams of her blades down on Ventress' own, her own immense strength coupled with the unbridled weight of the Force snapping to her will. The assassin managed to slip out from under her, but not without the DNA capsule coming loose in the process. She completely ignored it, lunging at Ventress again. The assassin attempted to call the capsule back to her with the Force, but only barely managed to raise her 'sabers in time as to not lose her outstretched hand. 

"You fetid _bitch_." She snarled, the modulator in her helmet adding a rough, angry static, bearing down with all her weight. "You pernicious, noxious _cur-_ "

The panic was visibly overwhelming the assassin, and the rabid animal inside her preened, _gloried_ in the fear. _Good. She should be afraid._ _They should all be afraid._ She pulled back, let the assassin think she had an opening to run. Ventress did exactly that. 

"Your nerve, your _audacity_." She spit, taking the assassin's wild kick, letting her helmet get kicked off in exchange for slashing at Ventress' waist and leaving a burning, deep gash down her thigh. The beautiful upside of beskad - it made you _bleed._ Wounded, the assassin tried to make a break for it.

" _I am going to tear you apart!_ " She roared, the world around her rippling like she'd sent a shockwave through it. She reached out, catching the assassin in her Force grip, squeezing her tight enough to make her panic ratchet up, to make her _struggle_. She switched the grip on her blade, an ugly smile coming to her face. "I'm going to show you what happened to Darth Maul, little girl, and what happened to Grievous. Exactly how I plan to leave _you_ , too."

She flicked her wrist backwards, and Ventress came hurling toward her. She was entirely prepared to cut the other woman in half with the sheer strength of metal through flesh, exactly as she had done to Maul, when one of the Kaminoan ships intercepted Ventress' flight, catching her seconds before her bisection. 

She could sense Grievous inside, along with the aftertaste of Ventress' abject terror, slipping past her fingers. Escaping her molten fury to the cold comfort of space, the _cowards_ , the treasonous, poisonous _leeches-_

It erupted from her in a furious, indignant scream. 

Two of the three engines on the back of Grievous' shuttle exploded at the same time the platform she was on strained then snapped under the pressure - _her_ pressure - and folded in on itself. Boxes, crates, droid parts and ship remains she hadn't noticed were floating all dropped to the ground with a horrible _clang._ Some of the debris hit the crumpled edges of the platform and ricocheted off into the sea, almost all of it crushed beyond use or recognition. 

Skywalker was behind her, Jango's DNA on his belt and his hands extended. He'd had to rebuff her, to protect the clones she'd almost seen come to harm herself. Jesse, just behind Anakin, had her helmet in hand. 

She dropped to her knees with a clatter, a perfect circle around her heralding the epicentre of the disaster. The beskade fell lifelessly from her fingers, her entire body so abruptly drained of all the violence that had kept it going, washed cold with self-loathing and regret, began to shake hard. 

"Obi-Wan?" Anakin called softly, the battlefield so eerily still. How had she not seen it? Not noticed what it was, exactly, that had sparked so much terror into the eyes of an assassin who herself was also a Sith?

She tried to respond, but choked on her own hatred. She would have never forgiven herself if she'd killed a brother. And she likely would have, not even being aware of his existence in her single-minded rampage. She thought she was passed this - passed needing to do damage control on herself. 

Anakin knelt next to her, one hand placed gingerly on her shoulder. He leaned down, offering her a timid smile when she met his eyes. 

"Was I-" She swallowed thickly, resenting herself more with each breath. "Was I going to hurt a brother?"

Anakin shook his head. "I thought it was her. I didn't trust the floating debris."

"Did you have to protect them from me?"

"No." He cracked a wry grin. "Ventress definitely looked like she needed a hand, though."

Her laugh was dry and sterile, devoid of humour. "She's never going to want to fight me again. Pity."

"C'mon. Let's get you back inside."

Jesse came up on her other side, gently sliding her helmet back on and helping Anakin lift her back to her feet. She shrugged off their help once she was standing, calling the beskade to herself and sheathing them. 

She wouldn't meet the visor of anyone she passed as she re-entered the city in search of Boba.

* * *

"So, I guess I was right."

Boba turned from Rex's side, meeting the gaze of one of the cadets that had been hidden in the bunks. "Pardon?"

The cadet's smile dimmed a little. "When I said you were one of us, Lucky."

The name hit him like a physical blow. "You were in my troop on the _Endurance_."

The cadet nodded. "I'm somewhat surprised you're back here, but I'm not about to say that I wish I had of been wrong about you."

"I-" He swallowed passed the guilt. "The Mandalorian we saw. She adopted me."

The cadet cocked his head. "How did she do that? You're a clone."

He shook his head. "I'm not like you. They didn't modify me. Jango didn't want them to."

Pieces snapped together too fast to comprehend behind the cadet's eyes. " _Boba._ Force, I should have known."

"You know about me?"

"Of course we do. You're Jango Fett's _son_. And now you're the Mando's son too." The cadet, to Boba's everlasting surprise, broke into a broad grin. "That's amazing! I'm glad she adopted you."

"Er, thanks?"

"Well, when you see me on the battlefield in a couple of years, make sure to say hi." He smiled broadly, all god humour and kind spirit, before turning away at a command from Cody. 

| | | 

For the rest of that day and into the night, Boba stuck close to Rex. Even when Obi-Wan came to check up on him, he decided to stay with the Captain. She was decidedly not herself. 

"You were brave today." Rex told him as they settled down on the Captain's bunk. "You made your mother and I proud."

He snuggled closer. "It's a start, right?"

Rex pet his hair with a gentle smile. "You're a good kid. We'll take care of you, don't worry."

* * *

Anakin stopped in front of her, almost entirely lost in the shadows of the cargo bay. He gestured to the spot next to her with his foot. "Is this seat taken?"

She was still wrapped tightly in the shell of her armour, both hiding herself and hiding from herself. "Feel free."

He sat down next to her, observing her out of the corner of his eye for a long moment before huffing and just laying his head down on her shoulder. Without thinking about it, she pulled one of her own hands free to take one resting limply on his lap.

"Why did you never tell us you have the Force?"

She sighed. "For this exact reason. I'm no Jedi, Anakin. I was never meant to be one, and I have no desire to be so."

"Yeah, sure. But you could have _told_ me." He rubbed her fingers with his own. 

She reached up, pulling off her helmet with one hand, and resting her head on his. "There's a great many things I can tell you and all of them will lead us right back here - to heartbreak."

"You don't know that."

"That's all my life is." She admitted softly, a smile coming to her lips. "Infinite sadness."

He squeezed her fingers and shuffled closer. "You can't believe that."

"Oh, my sweet boy, but I do." 

"You can't." He said, more fiercely. "You accepted all the clones, me, Ahsoka- You're always the one leading the charge with hopes held high. The men look to you for morale. How can all your life be terrible?"

"I didn't say it was terrible. I said it was sad." She gazed out sightlessly into the murky darkness of the hold. "I'm either too strong or too stupid to say down. Whatever good or joy I experience gets taken out of me twofold in death or regret. It's my curse for being alive when I should be dead. Dead like everyone else."

"Like everyone else?" He pulled back to look at her. 

She stroked the gyrfalcon on her breast. "Yes. But I didn't. But I'm too stubborn, you see. I don't particularly want to live, but I'm not willing to let anything kill me. Fate and I are at an impasse."

Anakin's horrified look made the guilt hurt sharper. "How can you say that? You have a son who needs you, who _loves_ you. Not to mention Rex. He'd be devastated to hear you say something like that."

"There's a lot about me you don't know. A lot that might change your mind as to whether my survival benefits anyone."

Anakin's face screwed up in a mix of anger and incomprehension. "I don't care about what you did in the past. It matters to us, to _me_ , here and now, that you're alive and you're well. You want to beat yourself up over the _possibility_ of the _potential_ to do something bad? Why? You didn't hurt anyone on Kamino. You weren't even in the mess tonight to hear them tell the story to each other. Do you know how amazed and humbled they were to see you get to _angry_?"

She doesn't meet his gaze. 

"Obi-Wan, they _love_ you. I got to hear them tonight, shinies absolutely floored that you care so much about them to lose your head. And in all honesty, I'm kinda with them."

She huffed a laugh. "You would be."

He tilted her head up, expression gone soft. "You might not mean anything to you, but you sure as hell mean something to us. You know me. If I spent every minute agonizing about things that never happened, then I would be a nervous wreck about my mom every damn day."

That startled a genuine laugh out of her, enough to loose the tears that had been beading in her lashes for the last couple of hours. He pulled her into him, holding her as tightly as the armour would allow, trying to make his aura as soothing as possible while she broke down into open sobbing.

"You don't have to be strong all the time, Obi-Wan. We'll take care of you too."

* * *

It was late in the evening, even for ship time, when she wandered into Rex's chamber, dressed down into her normal sleeping clothes. Rex opened an eye, but Boba remained fast sleep. 

"Are you okay?"

She knew she looked like garbage, with her sallow face and pink-rimmed eyes. "I am now."

He moved forward a little, letting her slide in behind him. She did so, gently wrapping her arm around his waist and tangling their fingers together against Boba's back. She kissed his shoulder, her lashes fluttering against the side of his neck. 

"I love you."

He hummed. "I love you too."


End file.
